Recycle t-shirt into a dinosaur costume for kids using felt, super easy!

Dinosaur costume from a t-shirt

This is an on going project so I’ll be posting as I’m going. Excuse the photos there hasn’t been much good light and I’m posting using my iPod touch. I’ll add more pictures and descriptions of my progress. To be quite honest there is no ‘plan’ per-say. But it’s for my sons birthday party at the weekend.
Reusing t-shirts that are going to be outgrown soon us an ideal way to get a costume started. This one is more of a vest as it has no sleeves, but any type would do!

Now I’ve started to add the spines , which are actually different sized ‘house’ shapes. And are stuffed with toy filler. As they are sewn so the bottoms are opened up, it pulls in the sides of the ‘house’ shapes and gives more of a stegosaurus shape.

Winnie the pooh themed wall hanging nursery decoration personalized

Handmade Gift

Front - Click to enlarge

I’ve been quite busy over the winter months, especially before Christmas. So I have a backlog of stuff I need to post. Most of the things you need for this are tools most people and almost definitely frequent crafters’ will have already.

The wall hanging is made from 2 x A4 chipboard (cardboard), cotton fabric, acrylic yarn and felt. Held together with fabric glue I used PVA glue as it does a good job, also I used some cotton embroidery thread. You’ll also need scissors, a hole punch suitable for heavy card and hammer, pencil, embroidery needle or a large sewing needle, iron, and last but definitely not least a decent craft knife/Stanley blade.

Made for my niece as a Christmas present. I wanted to include her name, Summah. The name is cut out using acrylic felt because it was what I had in my stash. But you could use any you have.

Directions
Draw out yourself a cloud design. To make it as even as mine you can cheat like I did and draw around something =] .

I used a plate  and something else small I can’t remember, maybe a cookie cutter to draw the rainbow. You could just use a rectangle though instead of a rainbow shape. Cut both out with a blade.
At this point make sure you mark evenly according to the weight balance of your shapes the wholes and don’t punch them too close to the edge as it will not work very well. Important – Keep the bits you punch out. You’ll need them afterwards!

Yarning around! – knitted toy dinosaur

Knitted Gifts for Kids

Smile!

I made this dinosaur from a magazine pattern, I forget which one, in September. It’s taken me a while to post on here as I’ve had a few distractions keeping me away. The magazine also features another dinosaur and can be knitted in any colours you like, even girly pinks and purples. My dear son loves this dino, and takes it to bed with him!

You can buy poly stuffing quite cheaply. This was an easy pattern, however it did seem like an eternity sewing up all those ends for the back plates. But was fun and glad I gave it a go.

Remember to always be extra careful sewing up toys for toddlers as they can be quite rough and tough on your knitted gift. Use a crochet hook to pull all the loose ends into the toy and firmly into the stuffing.

If you gave this pattern a go, let me know how you got on, I’d love to see the different colours you used. I used Hayfield fantasy in the green tones with orange and yellow toy yarn for the plates and spots.

Stegosaurus - Click to enlarge

Fathers Day – Modern Embroidered Hand Silouettes gift idea Update

Personalized Fathers Day Gift

Overview of Embroidery

I said I’d update you all on my Father’s Day project for my hubby from my 2yr old son. I started the embroidery yesterday afternoon. I was surprised how quickly it grew. It’s pictured here with the mount i intend to use. I used two shades of a silvery grey. The canvas I used is slightly off-white. But that’s ok, it’s not as contrast as it looks in the picture.

Below is a picture guide to how I went about this. Any suggestions for the bottom right hand corner would be good. Or even if this should be filled in. I did want to reference the year and a father son quote that relates to the hands.

Please let me know what you think below.

Draw around hand cut out with light pencil

Check the composition of the hands with your frame or mount.

Using a large embroidery hoop, choose one hand to start with and move the hoop accordingly.

I used backstitch for my son's hand and outline stitch for my hubby's hand.

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse Theme Birthday Cake – How to

Mickey is number one!

Mickey Cake

For my son’s first birthday (last year) I baked him a Mickey Mouse theme cake. I used 9″ and 6″ cake tins to do this 2 tier cake.

I baked the cake base using this recipe or you could choose your own. You only need 1 and half times the recipe. One for the bottom and half is for the top. I halved my tiers and layered butter cream in the centre. You wouldn’t need to do this. But you will need to make a batch of butter cream to ‘stick’ the fondant to the cake.

To get the top cake, not to sink into the other cake while it’s on top, cause that just wouldn’t be pretty! Use 3 or 4 cut down straws or wooden skewers to the height of the fondant layer. Rest your cake on its own 6″ base or if using a different size tins it should measure the same as your cake so you can’t see it. It will be easier to remove it after for cutting that way. The bottom layer should probably have one at least an inch larger base than the bottom layer cake.

Ok, so you’ve baked your cake and let it cool, added butter cream to the outside and you’ve rolled out the fondant and placed it neatly over the top. Once it’s all smooth and square with the cake, you’ll want to start decorating. I only used supermarket fondant that is fairly cheap, but tasty. With the white you can also dye it any colour you like using gel colours. For mine I’m sure I used Ruby Red, Violet, and Christmas green and licorice black. Of course with any dying process you will have to add a bit at a time to get the colour you want.

The best technique I’ve found for blending the colour the best is by making a well in the white fondant ball and using a cocktail stick to control how much I put in. Place in a small amount and close the well up so the dye is inside. This will help stop the majority of the dye getting straight all over your hands. Cause it doesn’t come off your hands easily. Now roll, just using your hands, the ball into a sausage shape. You want it to be long enough to turn back on itself. Now just rinse and repeat until it is all blended. This method will help stop it sticking all on your hands too. If you add too much dye, try adding icing sugar powder to soak up the extra moisture. Now let the coloured icing sit aside and cool down. You could now dye another batch and so on. Once you have all the colours you want, return to the first colour as it should have cooled enough. Don’t leave it a long time or it will start to dry out. If you plan to use it later that day you can wrap it in cling film to stop it from drying up.

I used letter fondant cutter for his name. The Mickey heads were about 1.5″ in diameter. If you don’t have a tiny cutter for his ears (assuming you don’t just have a mickey mouse cutter) you can roll a small piece into a ball and press into shape straight onto the cake. You may want to test your sizing before going straight to the cake and make all your ear balls before applying them so they are uniform in size.

A way to get your fondant shapes to stick is to use an edible glue or make your own by using good spoon full of icing sugar and add drops of water until a glue consistency. Remember though, it takes more sugar to water to fix it if you put too much water in. So do it gradually.

You can finish of (or hide any messy edges) by using ribbon around the bottom of each layer. Hold in place with a tiny piece of clear tape or like I did using butter cream as a glue.

You should end up with an awesome, but more importantly, handmade cake! Enjoy giving and eating together! Hope you found this guide useful. Let me know if you try this! I love to share others photos too. Post a comment to contact me.

Easy Craft Project – Felt Egg Cosy Cactus Fun for Kids

Quick Cactus Egg Cosy

Egg Cosy

If you would like to try this project here are the directions to make one cosy.

What you’ll need
2.5″ x 9″ Green Felt
Scraps of Coloured Felt for the Flower
Selection of Embroidery Thread in Beige and another coloured thread.
45 Silver Lined Sead Beads or whatever colour you would like
Felting Needle will help with the hand sewing, they are pyramid-shaped.
Templates Below

Directions
Cut out 3 arches that measure 3″ in width and 2.5″ in height. These templates should print out to size.

Mother Bear Project – Knitted Bear – Charity

On its way!

yippee.. one down!

I finally got around to finishing this bear. I’m super happy with it, and glad it has been posted out today. My son adored it and tried to cuddle it while I was still knitting! That just made me think of how I just had to get it finished in time for this weekends post. So it can be safely delivered into a child’s arms.

This is the first ‘Mother Bear Project’ Bear I’ve completed, but it’s not the last. I will knit a ‘boy’ bear next, I think. Any suggestions on the outfit would be fab!

Knitting for Charity – Squares for Children’s Blankets and Other Little Projects

Want to Knit-a-square?

Use up Odd Balls of Yarn

I stumbled across this organization Knit-a-square. With our help they provide warm blankets and clothing for sick children in South Africa.

There are lots of patterns to choose from too, such as hats, vests, jumpers and pull overs. If you are very creative you can share your own pattern too.

You don’t need to know how to knit to contribute to this project. If you have any old wool clothing or find any in the charity shops, you can felt them and cut the 8×8″ squares out of the felted fabric. Just by washing and using a dryer you can felt a knitted garment. This mats the fibres so when you cut the fabric it won’t fray or unravel.

It doesn’t matter what type of yarn you have. But take a look at their advice on what to use if you want to contribute to a heart warming cause.

Let me know if you have contributed already. If you have any pictures to share of your donations I would be happy to add them to this blog post!

Happy Knitting.

FujiFilm finepix – Knitted Camera Case Free Pattern

Knit your own case

FUJIFILM FINEPIX Case

A cute little case for your Fuji camera. This only takes a couple hours at the most, including sewing on some decoration and adding the snap fasteners.

The stitches you need to know are casting on, knit, purl and casting off. If you don’t know how to do any of these stitches I advise you to search for a video tutorial. YouTube is usually a good source for this.

This is an ideal gift because you can use left over yarns and spare sequins and beads from other projects to decorate.

Here is how I did it.

Angel Bear – Knit bears for UK Children – Charity

‘…because we care’

http://www.angelbear.org.uk/

Unfortunately, it appears this charity no longer exists. Please check official sources before thinking of contributing.
Angelbear is a non-profit organisation which is the notion that all children in a vulnerable position should own a teddy bear.

The lovely lady who runs this heart-felt project is very helpful when you ask about the bear and it’s pattern. If you need any help, she has a tutorial page that shows you all the basic stitches you need to complete the bear. But rest assured this is a suitable pattern for a beginner and knits up pretty quick.

I felt that I MUST make a teddy bear to contribute to this goal. She’s provides a pattern in which each bear should be based on. But if you have the ability you can change the pattern textures to any you like. This sort of thing really appeals to me so I took it upon myself to create a teddy bear with lots of pattern and texture. I wrote this pattern down. You can find it here. Feel free to use this pattern for non-profit and is suitable for this project too.

Visit the Angelbear website for more information on how to get involved.

All you need is some double knitting yarn in a couple of colours where possible and a pair of 4mm needles, a darning needle and polyester toy stuffing. Non of these items are all that expensive and most crafters will have most if not all of these items already. Just make sure they are new or freshly laundered

An ideal way to use up any leftover yarns you have and put a smile on a child’s face, which is worth more than anything!

My bear is already in the post. I urge you to get knitting too.

Mother Bear Project – Knit a Bear for Charity

‘Make a bear. Make a difference’

Mother Bear Project

The Mother Bear Project is a non-profit organisation intent on bringing hope and comfort to children, primarily affected by HIV/Aids all over the world. Many will be orphans. These children will be in need of love and comfort and will receive a hand knitted or crocheted bear. Click here to see pictures.

This simple act of giving a teddy bear to a child who has nothing else in the world is truly heart-warming and sends them a message that they are cared for, and that they do matter. I have recently requested a pattern from this wonderful project and can’t wait to start. I urge you to do the same. Please visit the website for more details.

All bears are created from the same pattern. Each pattern you order includes a tag for you to sign and attach to your bear before sending. Once they receive your bear they will sew on a red felt heart before shipping it out to a needy child.

I’ll be posting my contribution as soon as it is made so please subscribe to this blog to receive updates!

Even if you can’t knit or crochet. You can give by sending supplies or donating time or money to this organisation.

To date, 49,650 bears have been sent to children affected by HIV/AIDS through their help!

Valentines gift for him! – Easy Stuffed Magnets

Valentines Personalized Magnet

Valentine Magnet

What could be more manly than a magnet? Ok, maybe a few things, but as far as valentines go, there isn’t much choice for men. Men, in general, don’t really care about flowers, chocolates and cute teddy bears. So I decided to make a magnet for my hubby.

It was a relatively easy as far putting it together. If you have a crafty stash this will be an ideal project to use those scraps and odd ends up.

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Materials
Sharp Scissors
Small scraps of lightweight fabric
Iron-on fusible webbing
Buttons or embellishments
Embroidery thread
Polyester toy stuffing
2 – 12mm dia  x 3mm thick – (110 grams pulling force each)
Sewing Machine (optional)
Thread
Pins

Directions
Cut out two heart-shaped pieces of fabric, they don’t have to match. You can experiment with different colours or just use a plain coloured fabric on the back.

Print out a name or a word you want used on the heart, such as; love, xoxo, ur gr8, txt me, nicknames would work great too, etc. What word you use all depends on the size you choose to do. Remember the larger the piece the stronger the magnet you need. To be safe, I used two on mine.

Cut out the letter on fusible webbing and arrange them on your hearts. Make sure you leave room for your seam. ¼″ is usually enough. Press for a couple seconds, long enough for it to bond.

Sew the magnets on the inside of the back heart fabric. I don’t have a picture but just sew over the magnets until they are trapped in a web of thread. This way you won’t have magnets showing or messy glue to deal with.

Back detail

Here is detail of the back so you can see how it looks with the magnets sewn in.

Next you will want to embellish the front of your heart with little ‘X’s’ and ‘O’s’. I used tiny buttons as ‘O’s’ and threaded them on using a coloured embroidery thread. You can embroider anything you feel right to your valentine.

Turn the right sides of the two heart pieces together. Pin to secure and sew straight stitch to seal, remember when you sew up to leave at least an inch so you can turn it out after. I recommend leaving the gap on the straight edge of the heart so it will be easier to sew up. For best appearances trim the inside corners and curved edges, where the fabric is likely to make the outside look crumpled.

Stuff as much stuffing as you would like inside into your mini cushion shape. Sew up the gap.

You’re done! An intermediate sewer could do this within the hour too!

Boys KRITTER Chair seat cushion cover project

Checkered Flag Cushion

Children’s Ikea Furniture Foam Seat and Cover

Materials:
1 piece of 10″x10″x1″ Seating Foam
(2)  10.5″ square pieces of fabric
(1)  1.5″ x 42″ strip of fabric
43″ + 23″ length of Bias Binding or piping strips
Black or Red Sewing Thread
Sewing Machine
Sewing Pins

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10x10 Foam

10.5x10.5 Inch Fabric and Long Strip

Binding or Similar Cording

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Instruction Guide:
These are not exact instructions. But hopefully will provide you with enough of a guide to try it out yourself.

Pin pieces together

Pin your pieces together rights sides facing with your cording wedge between them. Remember that the fold in your binding or cording has to be put right edge inside.  So when turned out it is facing the right way.

The shortest length of edging will be at the back. Each of the ties are 6.5 inches in length. The rest of the edging will run from the back  right round the front back to the other side at the back.

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Easy Wall decor – disney cars – boys room

I am currently overhauling my little boys room. Disney Cars is the chosen theme. Here are some ideas of how to arrange the wall art stickers you can buy. This pack is available at amazon.co.uk Search: Decofun Cars Wall Stickers Room Kit. The wallpaper was purchased from http://rolling-borders.com/

Disney Cars Bedroom Decor

Cars Theme Decoration

Light Switch Decoration

Use any extras on your furniture to tie them in to the Decor

MUJI Partners With Lego For Paper Crafts

Fun with Lego

How come nobody thought of this before?! Genius =D These were made available just before the holiday season. Maybe this will help kids think outside the box when it comes to creativity with Lego. Wish I had this when I was a kid. I may have to buy this for my son when it comes available to buy in the UK.

This is a great opportunity to get crafty with the little ones!

Click for source - http://www.highsnobiety.com

‘A company named MUJI has partnered with Lego for kits that help you create colored paper shapes and objects that can be used to decorate LEGOs. The kit includes a hole-punch that makes Lego-sized holes..’  -Comments made by http://www.shoppingblog.com/blog/11220912

MUJI Partners With Lego For Paper Crafts

Photo SOURCE – http://www.highsnobiety.com/

Black and white theme pram quilt

Pram Quilt

First time quilting

Decided to share a project I worked on for my son. I had never quilted anything before so this was a great achievement for me. I didn’t use a pattern as it is quite basic in design. Really enjoyed it tho, have a few more ideas in the pipe line. Want to be more adventurous as far as quilting goes.

Now I have a baby niece I guess I have the greatest excuse in the word to go all crazy cute!

Please post your baby related quilts and patchwork creations. I would really love to see them, let me know what prompted you to make them too.

Also, do any of you have any ideas of what you do with all those tiny scraps, and odd leftover shapes of fabric? I have a huge bag of them! Thanks.

Click on the thumbnails for get a better view

The worlds best things are homemade…

…my favourite is my son. He will probably be my biggest inspiration when it comes to creating new things. In the past month I have had the pleasure of gaining a beautiful niece, for whom I look forward to crafting a many a thing!

I don’t normally indulge in the new year traditions of making resolutions. However I will be trying my best to keep this blog updated with fresh ideas and crafty projects. Use all the things I vow to use on future creations. Those special things you save for that, really great creation that you’ve been waiting to start (but you just haven’t figured out what it is yet) =D Make every project a great one and share it with all of you happy crafters.

Special thanks to http://www.onehourcraft.com/ for inspiring me to start my own craft blog. xx